Russia tries to make a buck.
Posted on December 29, 2009 at 10:01 am.
As some of you may know, I happen to hold Russian citizenship in addition to others. This means I am entitled to travel the world with a Russian passport, although of course I'd rather not. Well, the passport I had has expired a few months ago. Even though I don't need to replace it, I think it's cool to have a bunch of passports. So I tried to find out what would it cost me to replace it.
The Russian consulate now charges $500 for a passport replacement.
What the fuck is wrong with those worthless pukes? Have they altogether lost their sense of reality? Even before, it was $600 to renounce their worthless citizenship, and now it's nearly as much just to get a red piece of toilet paper with their mutated chicken imprinted on it?
Comment on this post - 3 existing comments.
Reflection on gaming.
Posted on December 28, 2009 at 12:02 am.
Today I beat my 141st game. It is also my 100th game since in 1999 I began marking down the year when each game was beaten. Now the year 2009 is almost over.
What a long, strange trip it's been...
A lot has happened in these years. Highs and lows, relationships and breakups, books and movies, jobs and travels, houses and cars, colleges and military service... They all are important because they are what makes up my life and who I am, but I'm also glad my gaming hobby has been with me right alongside these life events.
Some say it is a waste of time and that I may have missed out on some things while playing. I suppose I could have had a slightly bigger house if I spent my time working instead. Perhaps I could have seen a few more foreign countries if I focused on traveling. Still this can be said for any pastime be it lifting weights, praying in church, or collecting stamps.
I'm not sure if have lost anything, but there were definitely a lot of things I gained. Games made me learn about computers and gave me a career. Through games I've met and made friends with some interesting people, whom otherwise I would've never come across. Often I succeeded in my endeavors because of skills and knowledge I acquired while playing.
Considerably more important is the fact that I've drawn a lot of insight and inspiration from games. Always more than mere entertainment, they've given me a means to escape when I needed to, and the strength to face many of life's challenges upon my return.
Although my life has been saturated far above average with interesting, exciting, and unusual events in an of itself, bringing games into the equation has made it twice as fascinating. I can't wait to see what happens next, and I am sure as hell looking forward to playing for years to come.
Update:
Since this was posted I've beaten another game, bringing my total count to 142, and my 2009 count to 19. Because of this the chart was updated.
Comment on this post - 0 existing comments.
Game #141 - Mishap: An Accidental Haunting.
Posted on December 27, 2009 at 10:20 pm.
I just beat Mishap: An Accidental Haunting. It is a really fun an addictive puzzle game. I was tasked with reviewing it for the Adrenaline Vault, and although my due date isn't before 2/5/2010, I couldn't help but keep playing it until it was finished. Well, it'll just give me more time to write my review.
Download the demo here.
It is my game #141, and is recorded as such in my list of games I defeated.
Comment on this post - 0 existing comments.
Movie - Sherlock Holmes.
Posted on December 25, 2009 at 11:03 pm.
Just came back from seeing Sherlock Holmes. It was unremarkable... I think Downey is a terrible Holmes, although Law is a pretty good Watson. The story was nothing like what Conan Doyle would have written. The characters, save for Watson and Lestrade were also nothing like in the books.
Now, I do understand what interpretation is, and I was willing to allow for it, but the story was pretty poor in its own right. So was the acting. Visually it's quite average as well. Granted, Sherlock Holmes doesn't call for special effects, but camera-work could have been more impressive and innovative.
In short this film it as mediocre as one can possibly get. Something to (maybe) rent on DVD after you've watched all the good films there are. Don't see it in the theater though.
Comment on this post - 3 existing comments.
Book - The Stone Dogs.
Posted on December 25, 2009 at 2:29 pm.
I just finished reading The Stone Dogs, by S. M. Sterling. It was bothersome and therefore an excellent book.
Comment on this post - 2 existing comments.
I'm a Major General!
Posted on December 19, 2009 at 11:48 pm.
I finally got to level 58 in Modern Warfare 2, so now I'm a Major General! Woot!
I am the very model of a modern Major-General,
I've information vegetable, animal, and mineral,
I know the kings of England, and I quote the fights historical
From Marathon to Waterloo, in order categorical;
Comment on this post - 0 existing comments.
Game #140 - Star Wars: Force Unleashed.
Posted on December 19, 2009 at 12:48 am.
Just beat my game number 140. It is that Wii game I wrote about; Star Wars: Force Unleashed. In addition to all those things I said about it in my previous post, I have the following:
1) It recycles settings. You go to the mushroom planet twice, to the junk planet twice and to the space station thrice.
2) The story is written by a 9 year old girl. From a remedial class.
3) In the final two fights the game either cheats, or it can't freaking detect Wii motions, or my Wii just sucks.
Overall it's a piece of junk and I suggest you avoid it. Even Star Wars fans. The only reason I played it to completion is because I didn't want to waste the $9 I paid to rent it. May as well get a number for my list, right?
Well... I recorded it under number 140 in the aforementioned list, but it brought me nothing but frustration and disappointment.
Comment on this post - 1 existing comments.
Aion review published.
Posted on December 17, 2009 at 10:46 am.
My review of Aion was published by the Adrenaline Vault this morning. It was the first game to ever give me tremendous trouble with grading. To this moment I'm not sure I assigned it the correct score. It was also a very difficult review because of the sheer scope of this title.
Read it over at Avault.
Comment on this post - 0 existing comments.
Trying my first Wii game: Force Unleashed.
Posted on December 16, 2009 at 11:03 pm.
So I decided to give Wii a chance. Yes, it outputs to an small box in the middle of my TV, but who cares, right? Surely it will make up for it with good games.
Everyone recommended to get Mario Galaxy or Zelda, so I went to Blockbuster to rent either. The problem is, they didn't have any. The overwhelming majority of the games they did have looked plain stupid, so I settled for Star Wars: Force Unleashed. Before renting it, I did check MetaCritic on my phone and it said that critics give it a 71 and users an 81.
Alright. Fine. Good enough. So I rented it.
Ok, first of all, WTF is with the prices? Nine bucks just to play the for five days? Isn't that a bit excessive?
Second, why are the controls so imprecise? Is this game messed up or am I just too used to playing on a PC? It feels like the character's actions are only loosely based on what I am telling him to do.
Third, what's with the same level over and over? Yea, I get it, the setting changes. The Wookie world, a spaceship, the Jedi Temple... but so far all you do is kill a lot of little guys (via button-mashing and hand-waving) and then button-mash some more while a boss gets low enough on health that you get to a point where you have to follow on-screen instructions on which controller to shake in what order to activate victory sequence. If you fail, the boss gets half his health back and it all starts anew.
That's how far I got so far. Killed the boss in the Jedi Temple. I must say I'm not looking forward to 20 hours of this.
Oh and the graphics are incredibly fugly.
So tell me, is this how you console people roll? Or did I just rent the shittiest game ever?
Comment on this post - 0 existing comments.
Game of the Year - 2009.
Posted on December 15, 2009 at 1:28 pm.
Today Avault published a short write up of mine that deals with some of the favorite games of 2009. I selected four contenders and then named a Game of the Year (according to myself.)
Click here to read it over at Avault.
Comment on this post - 0 existing comments.
I found Jesus. He is my gardener.
Subscribe to RSS feed.